de ja vu

this week feels like the summer of '08. the summer where everything was flying at me. dad's heart, samantha's fall, henry's jaw, franky's marathon birth.
well, maybe it's not that bad.
we'll start with sunday. we went to evening mass. jose and abby were there. it was nice to have relatives attend george's first communion. that's right. george stuck his tongue out, the little bugger. he didn't swallow. he just proudly showed off what he had on his tongue when we got to our seats. there was not much else for me to do but take and consume it.
after mass we ate the 29 lb turkey that I had been cooking (but not watching- this will come in to play later) all day.
after dinner the kids head upstairs for bedtime ritual which is a nice way to say "running around like monkeys". samantha wanted to take franky upstairs and since i had plenty of leftovers to deal with, i consented.
i had just put the bag of turkey bones in the freezer when i hear "that" cry. the cry of real pain followed by henry carrying the crying baby down the stairs. her hand is full of blood. henry tells me that mj shut the door on her hand. i can't see past the blood but it doesn't look good. i end up heading to the er and she ends up getting the tip of her finger sewn back on. she is now wearing a gauze boxing glove like thing under a longsleeved shirt that i have pinned shut so she won't pull it off.
so monday I woke at 11. chris went in late so i could get some rest after a late night in the er. we do some school. i put some turkey and stuffing on a dish and warm it up in the oven. ten minutes later george excitedly tells me that there is a fire in the oven.
upon a closer inspection i find a sizeable fire, the source of which would be the drippings from the turkey that was too giant for a normal turkey pan. my first thought was, "get a wet towel" but that was quickly replaced with "oh, no. oh, no. oh, no!". and then followed by "the fire extinguisher is in the garage!". before going to the garage i decided to open it up to get a better look. bad idea. the added oxygen made the flames lick higher, touching the hood and microwave. i quickly shut the door, retrieved the extinguisher and fiddled with the lock and plastic wrap for a few seconds before tapping into my "backdraft" self. it was smoky before extinguishing the fire. but once the fire was out the smoke began to choke us all. i told everyone to go wait in the car. henry ran upstairs to "save" frances who napped through all the drama- tired from the drama from the night before. mj and I were still wearing pjs. i ran upstairs to get clothes on and shoes for everyone. I forgot my phone and headed back in. it was suffocating. it choked me so bad i was coughing so fitfully I'm surprised i didn't throw up.